US Nationals Day 1 Swiss is Best Of Three

Hello Hat Lovers!

Today it was announced that US Nationals will have best-of-3 matches for day one swiss. In the past Bo3 play has been reserved for top cut, as well as day 2 of Nationals and Worlds swiss. Making note of the change is very important as it changes what kind of game we’re playing on day 1.

Length of Event & Battery Life

Make sure to keep your batteries charged

Bo3 Swiss will make day one last about as long as a TCG event. Swiss is set to begin at 8am. Even if the organizers run a flawless event (which is a pretty unrealistic goal, in an event of this size there will be hiccups) we should still expect to be done around 8pm. This puts a much greater strain on the mental fortitude of players. At Oregon and Utah I played 16 and 15 games, respectively. At Nationals we could play as many as 27 individual games on day one.

Another concern of a longer day of play is battery life. At Regionals I’ve always made sure I started the day with a fully charged battery and kept my 3DS in sleep mode between rounds. I’ve never run into battery issues doing this and blame other players battery issues on negligence. After Nationals last year I bought a portable USB charger so that I’d never have to worry about my battery during an event. I highly recommend getting on of these as they will solve any and all battery issues.

Skill and Consistency are Rewarded

With best of three swiss we should no longer here players bemoaning how they lost their last round due to bad RNG (we still will, make no mistake). If you think you’re the better player you now have the chance to really prove it. If you can consistently outplay your opponent then it won’t make that they got the double Rock Slide flinch twice in a row for game. I’m sure we’ll have matches where each player wins one game cleanly and game three is decided by a critical hit or a flinch but in these situations both players were pretty close in terms of skill anyways. My philosophy is that if I’m the better player I can set up situations where the RNG can’t bail my opponent out.

Best of three swiss will also change the kinds of teams we see. For players who only need to make day 2 in order to secure their worlds invite would be more inclined to play teams that rely on surprise factor in order to take cheap wins during swiss. Now players can’t rely on these types of strategies to make it past day 1. Teams with unconventional sets can still do well, but they need to be backed by solid players that can win even when their strategy is known to the opponent.

Conclusion

I think choosing best of three swiss for the event event was a fantastic idea. This system should help ensure that the players who truly deserve to make day two will. Even the endurance factor can work in your favour if you’re able to play well all day.